» Wed May 09, 2012 5:13 am Very, very minor spoilers below:
I liked the start, which was a new spin on the prison tradition, but still hit all the typical beats (i.e. very similar dialogue from previous games, but in a new setting).
I'm not sure if I like the new character creator or not. I think it might be an improvement, but it will take hours of playing around to know for sure. Certain things, like hair, are way better than they've ever been. For the first time, they had a decent selection of male hair of different types, and they look good. The facial hair options were nice too. The 2 things I missed were the ability to rotate the lips (i.e. underbite/overbite), and the ability to change eye size. But I was in a rush to play the game, so my opinion could change
I like the particle effects. Mist, steam, and heat haze are all really nice touches. Water sometimes looks great, occasionally looks just wrong. Overall, the textures look lower res than QTP, but they're not bad.
Combat on adept is too easy (having just finished Bleak Barrows). There's no need to fear the dark at low levels, at least around the starting area. I accumulated over a dozen healing potions without even thinking about it. Health and Magicka regenerate too fast. Stamina too, but maybe not as much. When I restart I'll see if raising the difficulty actually makes a difference.
Finishing moves are mixed. They happen too often (in terms of making the game too easy), and the camera glitches too often. I once had a lady bandit trash talk me as I impaled her and lifted her off the ground on my sword.
Also, I keep hitting "F" to ready my weapon, which is a bummer when I'm about to start combat. I also wish we could hold the new "F" button to hold the character still and rotate the camera the way it used to work.
